England's disastrous loss to New Zealand in Tuesday's one-day match in
Adelaide has left them in a real bind in the triangular series, the
team's stand-in skipper Andrew Flintoff has said.
The 90-run defeat, which saw England struggle to just 120 chasing 211
to win, was England's 23rd in their last 31 one-day internationals as
they continue to struggle with the game they invented.
A win over the Black Caps would have all but guaranteed England a berth
in the tri-series finals next month.
Instead, New Zealand leapfrogged England in the table by collecting a
bonus point as Flintoff's nightmare antipodean captaincy continues.
Both sides have four matches left, two against each other and two
against the unbeaten Australians.
But Flintoff conceded Tuesday's defeat was extremely damaging to
England's hopes of making the finals.
"We have a big game on Friday against Australia," Flintoff said on
Tuesday in Adelaide. "Every game we play now is a big one in the
context of the competition."
Flintoff, who is yet to win a match as captain on a tour that is almost
three months old, was adamant his side was far better than its form
suggested.
He said the bowlers were doing their job, but that the batting was a
major concern, with only Ed Joyce defying the Black Caps on Tuesday.
Flintoff said the English simply needed to "execute the batting
better".
"We have to start performing with both bat and ball," he said. "I
thought we bowled well (against New Zealand), but we need to start
scoring runs. We are better players than what we showed today. It has
been a tough trip for some, no getting away from it, but we have to
remain confident, we have to go out there believing we are good players
and we can score runs."
Flintoff said it was hard to find a reason for England's continued poor
batting form.
"It is not through a lack of trying," he said. "The lads in the net are
working at the game and trying to improve, we are practising well. We
have to keep backing ourselves and our ability and have no fear about
expressing ourselves in the middle. We are good players and we have
scored runs and we will score runs again, hopefully on Friday," he
added.
As if the English weren't under enough pressure, New Zealand captain
Stephen Fleming questioned their state of mind after Tuesday's match.
"(Defeat) is not going to help, when you've been through a tough Test
summer as England have," Fleming said. "Any momentum you can grab,
those close games you can get across the line, and just scrap and
scrape some results together, is going to help to build that momentum
you need, just to keep your tour alive. Being away for so long it's
going to have some effects - if you're playing good cricket it's going
to make it a lot easier."